I Need A Hero
by Newest Maurader
Summary: James loves Lily Lily has come to hate James. But does she really hate him? In this story, Lily Finally comes to terms with herself, and realizes that James is everything she's ever wanted.
1. Chapter 1

King's Cross train station was rather crowded for a Monday morning. At 10:30am people were already hurrying back and forth. Important looking men boarded trains and shouted to one another where they would meet for lunch. Families consisting of a young mother and her children would loudly get on a train yelling over one another "But I don't want to!" "I already explained to you Billy, school starts soon." "MMMMMOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYYYY, I'm tired!" "Susan we just got here" "But - -" "But - -" "No buts, children, we're going shopping for school clothes whether you like it or not."

Walking slowly among the rushing people was 11-year-old Lily Evans. She was tall for her age, with bright green eyes, and long red braids that were currently wet at the bottom, where she was sucking on them nervously. Her green eyes full of anticipation and worry; she stopped walking and swung her big suitcase and covered birdcage around in front of her. She had stopped in front of the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10. No she stood glancing anxiously, first at the sign pointing to platform 10, and then at the sign opposite the barrier pointing to platform 9. She looked back down at the slip of paper in her right hand. "Platform 9 ¾, is this some kind of joke, there is no platform 9 and ¾," she muttered to herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. "You can do this. It can't be that hard," she told herself, "simply don't give up hope."

"Mum! I'm so excited for flying lessons this year! Thanks so much for the new Shooting Star you got me!" said a voice somewhere behind Lily.

Lily opened her eyes. "Flying lessons?" she asked herself, "I wonder . . ." She whipped around to face the speaker who was walking briskly in her direction. The only people anywhere next to her, were a young boy and what appeared to be his mother. However, there was no doubt in Lily's mind that they were part of the magical community, and so with no hesitation at all Lily approached them.

"Good morning!" she said walking up to them and smiling warmly at the pair. After an uncomfortable silence, in which the boy turned a dull red and looked away, and the woman looked with a puzzled expression on her face, from Lily to her son and back. Lily decided to take the next step. "I'm Lily Evans," she informed them, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I was wondering if you could help me?"

"Off course dear, but let me introduce us first. I am Katherine Potter, and this is my son James." said the woman, smiling a bright smile that left her hazel eyes twinkling. "Now, what may we do for you? Or are you simply having trouble getting onto the platform?" guessed the woman shrewdly.

"That's it exactly. You see it's my first time going to . . . Hogwarts," Lily glanced down at her right hand again to make sure she got the name right, "and I'm not sure how to get on the platform."

"I can help you get there!" said the boy suddenly, contributing to the conversation for the first time and smiling brightly, "Mum can I show her?" he asked, his hazel eyes, already so similar to his mothers, glowing with warmth.

"Of course James, however I need to talk to you for a second," replied Katherine, "I'm sure Lily wouldn't mind if I stole you away from her for a minute or so."

"Oh, no of course not," replied Lily hurriedly, happy that she had found help, "I'll wait for you here."

Katherine and James stepped aside, and Lily turned back to her trunk. She slowly opened the closed cage that stood on top and fed the owl contained inside some treats from her pocket. Lily's owl, Athena, was Lily's birthday present this year. While shopping in Diagon Alley with her parents, Lily had spotted Athena in the window of a shop, and immediately wanted her. Her parents had gone back to the store after Lily had gone to bed on the eve of her birthday and purchased the owl. In the morning Lily had woken up to a large Horn Owl nibbling on the curtains in the Leaky Cauldron room they were staying at.

"Of course I'll be fine Mom, don't worry," said James as he walked back to where Lily was standing.

Lily turned around to see Katherine Potter standing and twirling her slightly graying brown hair nervously and peering closely at her son.

"I promise I'll be fine! Go, and say hello to Dad for me!" added James when he noticed his mother's worried look.

"All right darling. Lily, I'm terribly sorry, dear, but I must leave. My husband is coming in from a long journey shortly and I must be there to greet him. James knows how to get on the platform. He'll help you with anything you need. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to see you soon. Know that our house is always open to you!"

"Thank you very much for the offer Mrs. Potter," said Lily politely, "I hope I see you soon," before Lily was done talking Mrs. Potter had nodded, glanced around carefully and turned gracefully on her toe and disappeared.

"Well we better get going," said James walking forward, not realizing that Lily was still standing behind him staring at the place where his mother had just Disapparated, "The train leaves soon and we still need to get our luggage on, and find a --" James stopped talking and glanced behind him with a confused expression. "Now why have you stopped, haven't you ever seen anyone Disapparate before? Or have you been Stunned?" asked James nervously, quickly returning to where Lily was standing dumbstruck.

" I . . . She . . . God . . . Wh . . . Wha . . . What just happened? Where did she go? She was here a second ago!" said Lily in a rush starting to walk around the spot Mrs. Potter had been standing in as if searching for a trapdoor.

"Stop!" shouted James, after Lily crouched down to the ground and started peering at it, "Mom Disapparated, its where you turn quickly on the spot and reappear in another spot, you only learn how to do it when your 16 but I've seen Mum and Dad do it all the time. Doesn't your family do that, or do the prefer Floo powder?" asked James bewildered at the puzzled expression on Lily's face, "They don't fly on a carpet do they?"

"What are you talking about? My parents drive a car! They are not witches nor wizards, we thought this was some type of joke until we reached Diagon Alley," said Lily exasperatedly.

"Oh, so you're Muggleborn," said James with understanding, "Well that explains a lot. Why didn't you say so. But we really have get going! The train leaves very soon. I'll explain everything you want on the train. Now the way you get on the platform is by running straight through the middle of the barrier dividing platforms 9 and 10."

"Have you gone mad?" said Lily vehemently, "I'll kill myself, and Athena!"

"No you wont. Lily calm down, you have to trust me. Things are going to start getting weird from now on. Hogwarts is almost completely magical, so just trust me that you will be fine. Are you ready?" James asked. After Lily nodded curtly he continued, "Ok prepare all your stuff, its best to take the platform at a running start if its your first time, brace your cart and run down the middle. Ill come right behind you in case there are problems." James placed a hand on Lily's shoulder, squeezed it momentarily, then lined her up with the barrier. "On the count of three you go. One . . . two . . . THREE!"

Up the aisle ran Lily full out, her small feet slapping the gravel. Right behind her jogged James, completely at ease with the fact that he was coming full throttle at a solid brick wall. Suddenly Lily disappeared right in front of James' eyes as she melded then went through the wall. Seconds later James did the same, coming to rest on the other side of the portal in front of a large scarlet steam engine.

"Oh my god James! We're here!" shouted Lily, spinning around and hugging him tightly around the shoulders, "Let's get on, where should I put my luggage?" she asked ignoring the slight blush creeping up James' cheeks.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't little James Potter, who thinks he can ride a broom," said a male voice behind them. Walking towards them was another young boy, although this one taller than both James and Lily, with long black hair falling straight into his clear blue eyes, "We'll see who gets onto the house team first shall we?"

"Hello Sirius," said James giving him a friendly, before turning back to Lily, "Sirius this is Lily Evans, she's a new students to Hogwarts too, but she's Muggleborn."

Lily had stuck out her hand to shake hands with Sirius but instead he took her hand gently and placed a delicate kiss on the top of it. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you," said Sirius charmingly as Lily regained possession of her hand completely unfazed by his flirtatious manner, "By the way, I've got a compartment where I've already set up, there's a couple of people in there but we have room for you two."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," said Lily, "do you guys really fly on brooms?" she said as they started walking up the trains steps.

"Have you never flown? And you don't know about Quidditch?" asked Sirius in horror as Lily nodded, "Well we'll have to remedy that on the train ride wont we."

They entered the compartment and Lily saw three other people there, a young boy with light brown hair and gray eyes sitting alone in a corner looking rather sick, a girl with black straight hair and striking purple eyes. In the middle of the compartment standing and chatting to the boy in the corner was a petite girl with bright pink hair and shining blue eyes. As she heard the sound of the door opening, she turned around quickly and started talking.

"Hi! I'm Hymn Bones. Actually that's short for Polyhymnia, but nooooooooone calls me that. And it's a pleasure to meet you. This here is Aurora Keyes, my new friend, and over there is Remus Lupin. Why don't you sit down? By the way I'm so excited to go flying! My parents are rather uptight and would only let me play Quidditch if my cousin Arthur was there," said Hymn speaking quickly and as if every sentence was the most exciting news in the world.

After the basic introductions were made, everybody settled down. Lily landed with James on one side, the window to the other and Hymn across from her. After the rest of the group found out that Lily knew nothing about Quidditch the conversations sped up. By the time the train arrived at the station, Lily was an expert on Quidditch as well as on her three new friends' histories.

James comes from a pure blood family that is rumored to have come from Godric Griffindor, but the rumors have never been proven. He is related to Sirius Black who's uncle married James' second cousin. Sirius himself also comes from a pureblood family but while James' family were Aurors and helped fight Dark Wizards, Sirius' family were the Dark Wizards. Sirius was considered the black sheep of the family and was even considering running away. Remus Lupin was a mixed blood wizard. His mom is a muggle, while his dad is a wizard; they had met and fallen in love, and raised Remus far away from wizarding society in a small village in Southern England.

Hymn, was a pureblood wizard, who was very close to her parents. She has an older sister who is unfortunately a Squib, and was deathly jealous of Hymn. Aurora's dad is a Muggle, but her mom was a witch who died when Aurora was young. Aurora was raised by her Muggle father, and so could connect to Lily's feelings easily. However, unlike Lily, Aurora, did not have the avid interest in Quidditch. She was more interested in the spells they would get to do at school, and spent the better part of the trip in deep conversation with Remus.

Once the train arrived at the station the group got out together and boarded the same boat. With a rather large wizard names Hagrid leading the boats from the front, Lily had plenty of time to look around and continue talking with her friends. Suddenly the boats swung around the corner and she was awarded her first glance of Hogwarts. It was breathtaking, Large and formidable the castle was currently lit up with hundreds of windows all lit and glowing. All of the first year students that were currently rowing across the lake could be seen staring in awe up at the castle. Their little faces alight with anticipation, and glowing with the light reflected off of the water.

As the boats got closer to the castle, Lily's nervousness began to mount. "What was it the others were saying? Something about a Sorting?" she asked herself, "I hope I get into a good house!"

As the boats all reached the shore, the first year students disembarked and were led to the castle by a young man, who introduced himself as Arthur Weasley, the Head Boy. Hymn immediately ran up to him, to hug him, and introduced him to the rest of the group as "my cousin Arty."

Inside the castle they were directed to a small room where the first years met one of their teachers. Professor McGonagall swept into the room like a queen, briefly telling them, that they will be sorted into "houses" and would then go and sit down with the rest of their house. "Now follow me please," she ended, and in a nervous jumble the first years moved behind her to enter a large dining hall. "This is the Great Hall," she mentioned to them over her soldier. Lily gazed up at the breathtaking ceiling, which was now reflecting the clear night outside with millions of stars winking down upon the students. The students lined up in between two of the house tables down the middle of the hall.

And the Sorting began. McGonagall brought out an old hat, which immediately split down the middle and sang a song. Each student would go up and try the hat on, after a varying amount of seconds; the hat would call out a house. When it came to be Lily's turn she was trembling with nerves. After "Michelle Ethan" was sorted into "Ravenclaw!" it was Lily's turn. She slowly walked up the aisle, pivoted, and sat down on a stool; she jammed the hat onto her hat, and just had time to wish for the best.

The hat came down over her eyes; inside her head Lily could hear a voice. "Hmm, well I see no doubt about where I should put you. But I do warn you my dear, you will not have an easy life. Make decisions with your heart and follow your dreams, but you still belong in GRIFFINDOR!" shouted the hat as the rest of the hall cheered.

Lily took the hat off and stood up feeling proud. She glanced to the Griffindor table and saw a small group of seats next to where James and Her friends were standing waiting to be Sorted. She walked over to a seat, but before she could sit down there was a tap on her shoulder.

"Good job Lily! I hope I get into the same house as you," said James standing in front of her. But James wasn't done talking, he opened his mouth as if to say more, but from his mouth came a voice of a much older boy somewhere in his late teens, "_Evans, Evans, will you go out with me?"_

_Sixteen-year-old Lily Evans jerked out of her memory. In front of her stood a tall young man also sixteen years old, with tumbled up black hair, and laughing hazel eyes. At the moment his eyes were full of hope but that hope was quickly crushed._

"_No Potter how many times do I have to tell you? I will not go out with you!"_

"_Alright, fine well I'll see you later."_

_Lily walked away disappointed. To herself she said "Snap out of it Lils, the sweet boy you met on the train is gone. He's never coming back."_


	2. I admit it, But only to Myself

Lily Evans, was considered beautiful by many. Her long red hair hung to just past her shoulder blades. In the past considered frizzy, now her hair was thick and wavy. At 16 years old, she had grown into thin body. Around 5-feet-5-inches, in height, Lily blended in with the rest of her class. But instead of making her go unnoticed. Lily's personality made sure that everytime she walked into a room all eyes would be on her. For Lily, though, her best feature were her emerald green eyes, normally slightly outlined with eyeliner and mascara, they shone at whoever she was talking to. Excepting James Potter.

Ever since the third year, Lily has hated James. No one knew exactly what had passed between Lily and James, that faithful winter day in their 3rd year when their close friendship of the past 2-and-a-half years had crumbled to dust. No one but James, Lily and Severus Snape.

Severus Snape, a greasy-haired boy, in the same year as James and Lily. Always considered rather annoying, he didn't have many friends, and tended to keep to himself. Snape never forgot how he had accidently barged in on the important moment, which changed Lily and James' lives for many years. He also never missed an opportunity to hang it over James' head.

Now in her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Lily was considered by many to be the belle of the school. The only other girls who had close to as many admirers as Lily did, were her two best friends. Through her years at Hogwarts, Lily had gotten steadily closed to Hymn and Aurora. All three had matured over the years, and were now known as the smartest, prettiest, and most perfect girls at the school. All three of them combined balanced each other out perfectly, and from the closeness, that the girls shared, they had come about their nickname of The Muses.

At 16, all three girls had striking appearances. Lily's like a fire on the move, entranced everybody. Her fiery temper, yet nice personality, plus her brains and good natured approach to everything, gave everyone a reason to be friends with her. Girls and boys alike flocked to her for tips on how to play Quidditch, considering she was one of the Griffindor chasers, and to how to snag their dream guy, knowing that Lily was one of the most sought after girls at school. Aurora, tall and mysterious, drew people to her like the moon draws the tides. Around 5'9" in height and with her waist length straight black hair and unusual purple eyes, not many boys were immune to her charms. Walking around the school with a queen's grace, and smiling at everyone as if to invoke their confidence, she weighted out Lily's fiery temper, and sharp personality perfectly. Hymn on the other hand, had matured miraculously over the years, she, like a bright burning sun, seemed to shine with light and drew people to her with her exciting personality. No longer playing around with her hair color every week, she had gone back to her natural light brown curls. Framing her heart shaped face perfectly, the curls looked soft and touchable, and made her bright turquoise eyes, look like gems.

Sirius Black and James Potter, who had naturally become best friends, were also deeply in love with Lily and Hymn, each of them respectively. They went about it in different ways. Where Lily knew that James loved her, and she consistently rejected him, and went out with other guys, Hymn and Sirius were very good friends, and had a playful relationship, which consisted of them bouncing sarcastic comments back and forth. Remus and Aurora, the calm ones out of the groups always watched the two couples' doings with interest.

"So Lily, time to break up with Amos already, huh?" asked Hymn playfully.

"Hmmm, she's right," added Aurora, glancing up from her Transfiguration book for the first time that evening, "Its been what, a week now?"

"Potter's been giving the death glare to you two for the past 2 days, its definitely time," added Hymn.

"I suppose you guys are right," replied Lily, "glancing away from her reflection in the mirror where she had been playing with various hairstyles, "I guess I'll do it tomorrow before the Quidditch match. It'll be fitting since our teams are playing each other."

"So that would be what boyfriend number 10 for this year?" teased Hymn playfully.

"And that's not counting the ones we met in France over the winter!" added Aurora with a hidden smile.

"I just cant seem to find the right guy!" burst out Lily in her frustration, "Every guy I'm with I lose interest with in a few days. With Amos it was either Quidditch or how good he is in Herbology. And believe me, I love Quidditch, ever since I was accepted onto the team in third year, It's been part of my life, but I've got to draw the line somewhere! It simply seems like I have no perfect match!"

"Ah, well. Maybe I'm destined to be an old maid!" said Lily dramatically flinging her hand to her forehead, "What do you guys think of this hairstyle?" asked Lily pointing to her hair, which was gathered elegantly in a messy up do, and obviously held up by magic, "I think I'll wear it like this tomorrow."

"It looks great Lils," commented Hymn, and it really did, with her hair softly gathered up at the top, it made Lily's eyes stand out even more. With a bit of makeup tomorrow, she may be mistaken for a goddess.

"You know Potter's gonna start drooling when you come in like that," said Aurora, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, "You take pleasure from that don't you?"

Lily smiled a mischevious smile. "Well and why shouldn't I? He embarrassed me before, now I can have my pay back! Plus this hairstyles practical, I've enchanted it not to fall apart while I'm playing Quidditch tomorrow, and do from the moment I put the enchantment on to the moment I take it off, every hair should stay in place."

"Lils but it was such a long time ago!" "Its really time to get over it. "Besides haven't you seen how good Potter's looking this year." "And everyone knows he's madly in love with you!" her friends bombarded Lily with their persuasive arguments, completely ignoring her attempts to steer the conversation away from her relationship with James.

"He's just not what I'm looking for," Lily said with a sigh, as she remembered Potter's warm hazel eyes, and flashing smile glowing upon her as she walked into the common room earlier. "He could be eventually, and I thought he was a while ago, but now I have no feeling for what he has become."

"It's late guys! I'm going to bed," said Lily as she magicked her hair back down went to the bathroom to brush up, and lay down in bed.

When she got to her bed she saw that Aurora and Hymn, were still sitting up in Hymn's bed playing cards, their other roommate Alice was already asleep. As Lily lay down and put her head on the pillow, her two best friends looked at her.

"You loved him didn't you?" asked Aurora perceptively.

Lily considered the question for a moment. "No" she answered finally, "I loved the person I thought he was, but that person is gone."

i "I simply wish he can come back," she admitted, but only to herself. /i 

hr 

James Potter had meanwhile been sitting back in the common room. Since Lily had walked in and glanced at him he had been unable to think about anything but her. As she walked through the door, her emerald eyes had flashed as her warm laugh rang out at something Hymn had said, they turned towards him, and he felt his heart jump as he gave a tremulous smile. She simply rolled her eyes at him and turned away.

Why does she hate me so much? He asked himself.

i Maybe because you rejected her in front of the whole school? Said a voice inside his head /i 

But I was so young I had no idea what I was doing. Do you honestly think I don't kick myself every day for that one silly mistake?

i I know you do, and you know you do. But she doesn't know it. /i 

But everytime I try to show her that, she simply rejects me. I don't know what to do!

i You realize you wont get anywhere with this attitude, you simply have to find out what she wants from a guy, and become that guy. /i 

Hmm, if only it were that simple.

"PRONGS! Wake up, how long can you sit and think of Evans? She walked by us about an hour ago and you still haven't come out of your trance. Moony and I have played at least 4 games of Exploding Snap, and Wormtail here is already starting to whine about being sleepy. I suggest we all go up and to bed, we have to play tomorrow, and you want to look spiffing for out little Lily Flower don't you?" said Sirius in a rush not wanting to allow James to fall back into his Lily induced thoughts.

"I suppose you're right. But on the bright side, she'll be breaking up with Amos tomorrow, maybe Ill have a chance then, right after the Quidditch match I'll ask her to Hogsmeade!" said James with his mood perking up by the second.

"That boy has officially gone insane." Commented Remus, looking after his friend as he skipped up to their dormitory.

"When the rest of the boys got up there James was already in bed and deep in his thoughts again.

"Let him think," suggested Remus, "That way he'll be sharp tomorrow!" narrowly stopping Sirius from jumping onto James' bed.

Sirius simply shrugged his broad shoulders and went to his bed in the corner.

James however had other things on his mind.

"I wonder how she became this beautiful woman right underneath my eyes?" he pondered relentlessly in his head.

"One day she was my little Lily, always there in our second year to give me a hug after a missed a shot in Quidditch and to congratulate me at my good marks in Transfiguration. Then the next day we stop talking, and a week later she's the most sought after girl at school, with a list of boyfriends seriously catching up to my list of girlfriends. How could I have been so stupid as to reject her!" said james turning around in his bed and crushing his pillow into his face in frustration.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he chanted to himself!

"But I'm not giving up on her. No never!"

i Smartest thing you've said all night. You keep it up and she might be yours, /i said the voice inside his head, but James was already asleep, dreaming of Lily, as she laughed at him, with her green eyes bright and her perfect white smile shining on him. She ran up to him, and whispered in his ear, "James you're everything I've ever wanted!"

hr 

Meanwhile Lily was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, but one thought kept trying to push itself into her mind, in the end she relented.

"James, you're everything I've ever wanted!" she thought before falling into a deep sleep.


End file.
